No violence. No killing. No Maoist attack. Polling in 14 Assembly constituencies, which are considered as Maoist-infested ones, in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia was totally peaceful. Around 85 per cent voters cast their franchise in the last phase of the six-phased elections in West Bengal. An unprecedented security blanket was
thrown around all the 14 constituencies in Jangalmahal to tackle any Maoist insurgency during polling. The Election Commission (EC) had deployed 655 companies of the Central paramilitary forces and 100 companies of the state armed police forces in addition to the 40 companies of the Central forces, which are already there as part of the joint forces to tackle the Maoist insurgency.
The EC also deployed three helicopters to conduct continuous air surveillance with videography. It also airlifted one polling party from a polling station located in a remote area in West Midnapore to the headquarters after the polling was over at 3 pm. Barring around 50 polling parties, all polling officials, who conducted the polls in 3,534 booths safely returned to their respective headquarters by 8 pm.
“The polling was absolutely peaceful with no major incident related to law and order reported. No person was arrested and only 22 persons were taken into preventive custody. The Chief Election Commissioner has expressed his gratitude to the people of the state as well as the political parties for their support in conducting peaceful elections in all six phases in West Bengal,” state chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta said.
According to the compiled figures at 7 pm, the average voters’ turnout in the 14 Assembly constituencies namely Nayagram, Gopiballavpur, Jhargram, Garbeta, Salboni, Midnapore and Binpur in West Midnapore; Bandwan, Balarampur, Baghmundi and Jaipur in Purulia; Ranibandh, Raipur and Taldangra in Bankura, stood at 85.06 per cent. In 2006 Assembly elections and in 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the average voters’ turnout in these 14 constituencies was 82.53 and 76.49 per cent respectively.
“Out of the 14 constituencies, where polling was held today, the average voting percentage for seven constituencies in West Midnapore was 87.24 while the figure stood at 80.22 and 85.48 for four constituencies in Purulia and three in Bankura respectively,” an EC official said.
Over 90 per cent of polling was recorded in Garbeta and Salboni constituencies, both of which fall in West Midnapore.
The EC replaced EVMs due to malfunctioning but the polling process was not affected in those booths.